Millions of Tons of Sewage Sludge are Being Used to Grow Food in the U.S. – Here’s How to Avoid It

Despite the fact that we’ve all long been removed from the true sources of our food in the past few decades, most of us are aware of the use of animal manure on farms.

But did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency also allows the use of sewage sludge including human waste and harmful chemicals from waste water, which it qualifies on its website as being part of a “natural cycle?”

An estimated average of four million tons of treated sewage sludge, cleverly reworded through the use of the PR industry term “biosolids” after it’s been treated, is used on farms across the country, and the EPA seems perfectly okay with it despite consistent scientific research showing evidence of harm.

“The controlled land application of biosolids completes a natural cycle in the environment,” the EPA says. “By treating sewage sludge, it becomes biosolids which can be used as valuable fertilizer, instead of taking up space in a landfill or other disposal facility.”

A vehicle spreads treated sewage sludge, aka “biosolids,” on a field for growing crops.

Biosolids are the result of a wastewater treatment process, and local governments are allowed to decide whether to recycle it as fertilizer, incinerate it, or bury it in a landfill.

Whether or not biosolids qualify as “natural” depends on their source, of course, but by and large they almost always contain objectionable material. The truth is, we live in an age where chemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceutical drugs, and genetically modified crops are ubiquitous, and the risks of these and other substances may in fact be manifesting themselves in a highly concentrated form in these “biosolids.”

Several advocacy groups have called for an end to the use of sewage sludge including Farm Aid, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Food Safety, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Organic Consumers Association, Center for Health, Environment and Justice, and dozens of other groups.

Many recent studies have also demonstrated evidence of harm from the treated sewage sludge.

Caroline Snyder, professor emeritus Rochester Institute of Technology and chair of Citizens for Sludge-Free Land, North Sandwich, N.H., also has noted that the use of sewage sludge often transfers man-made toxic chemicals from industrial sites, hospitals, business and households into the environment. She added that farmers and citizens concerned about the harmful effects and true nature of the “biosolids” can visit www.sludgefacts.org for more info.

As of fall 2013, EPA regulations in America were considered to be among the most lenient in the world; wastewater treatment plants are only required to check for just 9 out of 80,000 potential pollutants that can make their way into the sewage sludge “biosolids” after processing.

The EPA doesn’t promote the use of sludge anymore, but that hasn’t been stopping farmers from taking on the risk considering they’re still allowed to do so, and could stand to gain financially from it.

The Use of “Biosolid” Sludge on Today’s Farms

Currently, the EPA says that about 50% of all biosolids are being recycled and added to land, amounting to less than 1% percent of the nation’s agricultural land total.

And yet the sheer amount of sludge used on farms is quite high: an estimated 4 million tons of it, often applied as a free fertilizer to farms who may be incentivized to use it by local sewage authorities, and who accept because of the money they can save on it compared with chemical fertilizers.

In total, an estimated 21 million to just under 55 millions tons of fertilizer overall were used on U.S. farms according to The Fertilizer Institute, compared with the 4 million ton sewage sludge total (in 2013).

How to Avoid Sewage Sludge in Your Food

Backing the treated sewage sludge industry are PR agencies armed with sky-high budgets, including the Water Environment Federation which invented the term “biosolids” to obfuscate the truly unnatural composition of such highly contaminated materials.

While most people are still unaware of this potentially dangerous practice, there are ways to avoid it, and more and more grassroots natural and organic organizations are taking notice.

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But there is a lot of confusion as to where bread fits into a healthy diet.

The Bible practically commands followers to eat it: “Give us this day our daily bread…” The government put it at the base of the food pyramid. And for centuries, it has been called “the staff of life.”

The average American consumes 55 pounds of wheat flour every year, making refined flour the #1 source of calories in the American Diet – a situation that nutrition expert Chris Kresser describes as, “a public health catastrophe.”

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Nick Meyer is an independent health researcher and journalist and the founder of AltHealthWORKS. Nick's mission is to "tell the many incredible stories of the growing holistic and natural health community, stories that had slipped through the cracks of the traditional media." He's been cited by Dr. Joseph Mercola of Mercola.com and published on the website of The Cornucopia Institute. Nick has also written several books for the Amazon Kindle covering important health topics, which can be viewed here.
Nick is currently offering eatlocalgrown readers a free copy of his e-book 'Healing Secrets of the Amazon Rainforest.'